The owner of a horse farm in McHenry County who had four female horses apparently stolen this week found them on a nearby home's lawn, she said today.

Claudia Haugh, owner of Royal Ebony Friesians in Spring Grove, discovered the horses stolen Friday morning, with one wooden fence rail removed, another cut and a security camera blacked out during the time of their disappearance.

During an interview with WGN-TV Friday night, Haugh heard the whinnying of a horse nearby, but it turned out not to be hers. Then news of the missing horses "went viral" overnight, and when she went to look for them this morning, she found them on the lawn of a recently built home across the road, she said.

Although the four fillies were found nearby, Haugh said because of the circumstances of their disappearance, she's convinced the attention given to the missing horses caused the apparent thief or thieves to dump them nearby.

To escape the corral, the horses "would have to take the top board off the fence, cut the second board with a saw, then at 2:12 a.m. [Friday], cover the camera ... so three blank pictures were taken," Haugh said.

"I just wanted to thank everyone for giving this attention -- if it wasn't for them, the horses wouldn't have come home," Haugh said.

Haugh had offered a "substantial reward” for the return of the four fillies who disappeared this week, according to her website. Two of the horses are 2-year-olds, two are 3-year-olds.

Haugh told WGN-TV Friday that she discovered the horses missing when she went to feed them after leaving them in a corral Thursday night. A fence appeared to have been cut, and fresh tire tracks led from the scene, she said.